Britain:Officials from the National Disease Control centre in Dublin will meet this morning to assess the threat from the bird flu outbreak in Britain, which appears to have spread to a new site there.
Department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) veterinary staff found dead turkeys on a farm which shared a common workforce with the Redgrave farm where the potentially lethal H5NI virus was found on Monday.
Scientists had planned to cull nearly 11,000 birds from four other farms which had what it termed "dangerous contacts" with the infected farm near Diss, in Norfolk.
"During preparations for culling at one of the premises which is located in the protection zone, a notifiable disease could not be ruled out," a spokeswoman for Defra said.
She said the birds were then culled not as a precaution against the spread of the disease but on suspicion the disease was present.
She added that tests on birds from the second farm, at Grove Park in Botesdale, would be carried out to determine if the birds had died from the disease.
The Redgrave Poultry company - which runs both farms - confirmed that Defra vets had found a 0.5 per cent loss in the flock on Grove Park farm. However, it said the loss of a small number of birds was a normal aspect of production.
Initial results from the tests on the dead birds are expected later today. Should these prove positive, wholesale slaughter of the four million birds in the 10km (6.2 mile) surveillance zone around the farms may be considered.
Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture here has used the media to reissue its advice to poultry farmers on precautions they must take to avoid the spread of the disease.
It also reminded the public that the avian influenza helpline, 1890-252283, is available to the public.
Reports of dead or injured wildfowl can be relayed to the department by calling this number.